Author: andrea

Many things have changed in my daily life. This is not a “woe is me” story. But, it is very fair to say that how I now feel about the stuff I have been “saving for a truly special project” has definitely shifted. I have a closet full of wonderful and unique fabric, awaiting to be sewn into the “perfect thing”…no surprise there, right? I accept the fact that at this point I may simply be the curator of all this truly inspiring fabric for someone else’s use in the future. In an odd way, this “fresh thinking” has freed me to actually use some of it!

Unexpected alliances ferreted out of the “sea” of fabric (should have had a photo of THAT pile!)

Case in point: the pillowcases in the photos…such an ordinary use for such treasured cotton prints. But, guess what happened? Once I decided to use some, I spent two wonderful and engaging afternoons pulling out “the good stuff”, pairing up interesting combinations, working with what I had (NO NEW PURCHASES ALLOWED)…”playing”, figuring it out, ripping, sewing, pinning, pressing…and ended up with a stack of very extraordinary versions of a very simple, useful thing: a pillowcase for my bed.

I have come to realize there was “more at play” in this activity than simply ending up with a stack of pillowcases. I am using them (rather than saving them for “company”). Each night, as I get in bed, I feel special savoring such a lovely (and ordinary) thing. It is soft, it is pretty. Each morning, as I make my bed, I get a little gift of “grace”: “I did this for me…how nice.” It is a simply wonderful way to start my day.

End of the day!

Truly EASY Instructions for Making a Pillowcase:

Choose two fabrics. Rip the larger piece from selvage to selvage to get the edge aligned with the grain. Measure 22 inches along the selvage and rip again. This is the body of the case. For the band, again rip from selvage to selvage to align the grain; measure 14 inches…and rip again.

Fold the larger “body” piece in half, right sides together, aligning selvages. Sew a half inch seam along each “long” side (and again, along these seamed edges with a zig-zag stitch to prevent fraying). Turn right side out. Press seams flat.

Take the smaller “band” piece. Stitch the short ends together. Right sides together, stitch the band to the body, matching side seams. Press a half inch “hem” along the remaining raw edge. Turn pillowcase body wrong side out, fold up band to just cover sewn edge, matching side seams; ease as needed; pin and sew (Do this on the “out” side of the case…this is where the stitching will show…if it is a little wonky on the inside (and it probably will be), it won’t ever show…no worries. Voila. Done. Press well. Sweet dreams ahead!

One small caveat: All 45″ cotton fabrics do not actually measure a full 45 inches. Sometimes the “band” fabric you have chosen will not be quite long enough for the “body”…I viewed this as an opportunity to insert one small piece of a third fabric! To plan ahead…check the length of the ripped band against the stitched body edge, before pinning them together…and add whatever piece is needed. Easy, truly.

I am thinking of this post as an experiment: Can I actually get my thoughts and work “out there” once again? After a while, the “maybe I will do that tomorrow” begins to feel a bit cowardly, right?

I am back in my studio in a somewhat regular way…both of them, actually. ( I have the ultimate luxury of a space for “paper” and one for “fabric”, i.e….the two empty bedrooms). After a long time of putting others first (for truly excellent reasons…no regrets, there), I am now trying to once again engage in a daily, creative practice. In the one spot, I am working on the Passacaglia…which is something of a “once in a lifetime” piece of work…more on that another day. To counterbalance the awesomeness of that effort, I am also making tiny collages using up scraps from other work. The little book in the photos below is a small 3″ x 5″ Moleskine. Every day I try to do something in it…if I complete ONE page, it is “enough”.

The process, though, has become something more than simply cleaning up. All of the paper is scrap…the under-papers created when making more “important” work. And, therein lies the joy in the process. Each page is just “something from nothing”…on a very small scale…using simple tools…ruler, scissors and glue.

The underlying “restriction” or challenge for all in the book is to create a small collage in which one can “see through” to what is going on underneath the top layer. A secondary expectation is that each of the collages on a given open spread should relate to each other in some way. That’s it.

In a very odd way, this book and its contents have become very important to me. Each page is a reminder that I have given myself time. I have fiddled with little pieces of paper until they make me happy. Simple idea…it doesn’t always have to be hard.

As is often the case, there is usually more going on “behind the scene” in any given circumstance. My presence here (right this minute, on this page…with NO PHOTOS) is a case in point. Since our move to the Brandywine Valley, my life has changed often and in many ways. Maybe it was doing that for years the entire time we lived in New York…after all, we were there for that final time for more than 20 years…with two kids… “Hah!”, you think? But, truly, looking back, it seems like it was one long continuum…same goals, constant, endearing friends, and ALWAYS my “work”, striving…day after day, year after year: a life “in a line”.

Poof! it seems that our move shifted some sort of cosmic “kaleidoscope”…terrible things happened and wonderful things happened…there has been no “straight line” since we pulled out of our New York driveway for the very last time. This is not a complaint; just, an “observation”. Once all the house renovations were done (not going into details here, let’s just say that life on a ladder and behind a sledge hammer isn’t everyone’s dream)…and then there were the sad and the tragic things that I guess happen to everyone, but when I looked up…it was three years later! When I could finally go back into my studio with a free heart, I discovered just how Sleeping Beauty must have felt. OH! OH!

Picking up the pieces has been “interesting”. I am “on my own” so far. But, working again has been such a joy. Getting this blog back seems somewhat of a miracle in itself (lots of behind the scenes work done there to recover all that was ravaged). But, “where are the photos”? Good question. In the interim, updates have changed my software beyond recognition! (and, understanding). Working on it…promise. Soon. (she writes, with fingers crossed).

This WordPress blog has been reclaimed from hackers by the experts at Shedletsky Cyber Security. Does your cgi-bin have 0777 permissions? Running primordial PHP code someone found in an OSS repo back in 1997? SQL injections 0wning your box? No backups? No problem.

We are knowledgeable experts trained in obscure configuration schemas, arcane command line interfaces and ancient data languages. Quite frankly, we are sorcerers. And we are here to help.

Protecting victims of WordPress world wide

SCS. We are security experts. If you think hiring experts is expensive, try hiring an amateur.

Not sure that this is truly the right moment to be trying to write a post…my camera is once again challenging my editing “skills”..(.more like the “lack thereof”)… I am WAY beyond frustrated. My cogs are looking good on the table, but not on the screen. I will keep trying; I think I need a new blogging strategy, but for today (since I know what the rest of the week looks like), I am going to just go with what I have.

The thing is moving along. That is the true beauty of this quilt (and probably how most people manage to actually get it done). There is always some part of it that can be moved forward…whether it is the tracing and cutting when one has the light and time to consider the interplay of colors and patterns; the basting, taking advantage of odd moments, here and there; or, the actual hand-piecing of the rows of shapes. (The stars are surprisingly fun to stitch!)

I am working on multiple cogs at one time in an effort to have the final layout be “one song” rather than simply a compilation of pieces and parts (literally!!!) That said, one has to truly pay attention to the working diagrams…which has led to some “waltzing” around of the circles/cogs I had already stitched; the big cog had one too many stars! I have learned my lesson though…count twice, check again…THEN, stitch.

Sanded and painted my “Disney” cabinet in record time. It is now in place in the “paper” studio, where everything that is not stitched gets worked on. This room has also become the dumping ground for any and everything “not fabric” for the past three(!) years. The ten foot long table in there is a far-too-tempting flat surface for whatever is in hand…(a habit I hope to break in the very near future).

Before I spent most of Friday in there sorting things, finding spots in the cabinet for the things that “stay” and making piles just outside of the door for the things that don’t, I took photos (intending to impress with my organizational skills). “Ah! So many messes! But look! Presto! a table is under there!” But none of them even survived editing! …the consequence of trying to move off of the AUTO button (forgot that “one crime at a time” thing…blue photos, anyone?)

I had sorted and organized for hours. The table got neater, outside of the door did not. Hope reigns, though.

ps: The observant reader will notice that there is no photo of the table top after those “hours of organizing”. It is a bit of a work in progress.

Saturday leads to Sunday; it is inevitable. We spent last Saturday at a “mud auction” (think I have written about these before). They are unique to our area…co-operative fund-raising efforts by the local fire companies and the Amish/Mennonite communities. Early Spring and “just-about-now” are mud-auction seasons (when it is either too muddy to be out in the fields, or when most of the harvesting is done). On any given Saturday there will be at least one in a town nearby…Most everything (except for the yummy local food) is sold by auction: antiques, handmade birdhouses and yard “ornaments”, farm and carriage equipment, random donated “stuff”…and plants. The last are what entice us to spend a day outside under a tent. We haven’t quite figured out the economics of it (are they donations? consignments? not home-grown, but certainly local). Vendors bring wagonloads of stock, set it all out for perusing and admiring…and then, auction it off. A few dollars can score a treasure!

We always have fun considering the possibilities, envisioning garden spaces full of color (in lieu of weeds). Inevitably when driving home, the van is loaded with flats and pots, even the occasional tree! But the excesses of Saturday bidding mean that Sunday is spent planting…and thus, no blogging.

That isn’t to say that nothing is getting done. I think these will be rounds 5 and 6 in the first BIG rosette. I vacillate between thinking the color switch is “great” and wondering if it is all too much. Up to this point, most of my center rounds look pretty subdued…not sure if that is a “sophisticated” take on the pattern…or just a “safe” one…

On a far more pressing issue: Scored this quirky cabinet for $25.00 at the auction last Friday night! I have been looking for a good (read that as “classy, and therefore, rather “sedate”) storage solution for the mountain of art supplies piled on top of the studio table. Finally, gave up. Bought this. Have just finished sanding it. Am going to paint it with Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint. The room is “somewhat” purple…am thinking “robin’s egg blue”…”sedate” is over-rated and probably has no business taking up space in the studio anyhow…headed out now…stay tuned…

I am truly into it now. That might be a somewhat optimistic view, given the over three thousand pieces in the finished quilt. I probably have two thousand five hundred to go. What you see above are just a few of the tiny pieces used for the FIRST row of stars and diamonds…

The process starts with a simple center of five diamonds. Mine are cut from finely woven ikat cottons woven in Indonesia. I have “embraced” the variations in the patterns, figuring they will only add to the quilt’s “charm”.

I have made many more of these than I will need…more on that later. The next round are the elongated diamonds. Originally, I thought to make them all with a pattern on a black ground.

But, as I started to figure out what I might do for the next round, the dark centers began to look too much alike…so I began “branching out” with some color (a slippery slope).

Round three, a ring of ten hexagons, is actually surprisingly fun to sew together. I am using hand-marbled fabrics that have been hoarded for YEARS (too “special” to use?). I “fussy” traced and cut each hexagon to be able to play with the movement of the colors within the shapes…

Changing in and out the center stars is entertaining…have made very few “commitments”.

Round four is a somewhat? intimidating ring of stars and diamonds. This is when the construction of the rosette begins to get “interesting” (challenging???) There are SO many variations possible in this row. I really like the stars, though. So not sure how much I will play with other possibilities.

To tally up my progress: I have sewn together all of the 37 star centers, plus about ten more. I have stitched most of “round two”; still have the “color” ones pending. I know I will have far more than I need. Maybe they can be used “here and there” on the border or the back? About half of the pentagon rings are stitched. I am beginning to wonder if having them all be made of marbled fabrics will be “boring”, or, if “boring” is even possible given this pattern…The star row in the photo above got plopped down on a “pink center” as stuff got pushed aside to make space to work…and it POPPED! Stopped me mid-shove. So, am considering that. The last thing one wants to do when paper-piecing by hand is to have to rip anything out. This is a quilt that requires COMMITMENT!

Which brings me to the question under-laying this post. The way I have been working on this quilt is entirely unlike my usual process. I like to make way too many of the chosen block/motif; to play with colors, stick them up on the design wall, move them around… and, tease the “vision” that inspired the work in the first place. The Passacaglia is such a dynamic (and, brilliant) design. But it proceeds slowly: very, very slowly. It is stitched entirely by hand. Each piece is traced one at a time to make the most of a fabric’s print or color; and then, pressed. (I baste by hand, and the iron makes that work so much easier. I know the current wisdom says “glue-basting is fine”; but, I just can’t go there.) The basted components are then hand-stitched together with very small, and close overcasting stitches (making them extremely tedious to “un-sew”). The goal is for very even stitching that doesn’t show on the front (a worthy goal, at least). As the rings around the center star begin to radiate out, the number of pieces (and, pieced pieces…those little stars???) grows quickly. By the final rows one might be tracing, cutting, pressing, basting and stitching together more than 60 shapes to complete the ring. How much experimentation does that process encourage? What if I “guess wrong”? More to the point, will it still be “fun”?

The jury is out. As Jerry Jeff sings, “sometimes you have to trust your cape”. Still flying; still playing…just a bit more thoughtfully.

It is Sunday. Since the last time I tried to post an entry of any meaningful content, a lot has changed…(apparently, also including the software to edit and upload any photos, as I just found out)!!! We will see how it goes.

Even though it must seem that not much has been going on blog-wise here at danglingthreads (given that entries have been spotty, at best), as often is the case, much has been going on behind the screen. Not exactly one to relish the effects of “new update available”, I didn’t update my computer’s software for years…literally. Well, Apple got its revenge. Then, wordpress decided to get in on the fun. White screen; no content. “Error” this, and “Error” that. Luckily I have kids who are beyond generous with their time and expertise…so, though I may be running as fast as I can to catch up (and, cope) with all of the new nits and bits, maybe, now finally, posting might become a regular thing once again.

That said, the sound of running, dripping water at 11:30 last night, reminded me that I am not queen of my empire. A broken feed to the toilet on the second floor “failed”…meaning that water flooded the bathroom, dripped down through the ceiling lights on the first floor, bubbled up the walls and ceiling on my newly finished paint job and then continued on its merry way into the basement. Only a few drips managed to hit the kayak stored just below there…the rest, did its best to soak all in its path…On the bright side…we were home, and since the Olympics are going on, we were awake.

Enough of the rant. Creative work has truly been happening all along. Much of it has been “pick-up work”, done in the very early morning hours, or, savored after finishing a daily stint of painting…At the moment, my version of the Passacaglia, the paper-pieced wonder by Willyne Hammerstein, is starring… (photos to come, I promise…) That said, although my intentions are ALWAYS good, the work routine that used to happen, just doesn’t anymore. For years, I could count on blocks of time every day…mornings for creative, new work; afternoons, for quietly hand- stitching, or quilting…or, whatever else suited my fancy…(a luxury, I know). These days, I no longer have “weeks and then, weekends” (those important Sunday afternoons for blogging, especially)…the days simply wend out one after another, with surprises nearly everyday. “Plans” seem to exist only to be abandoned! Those (the surprises) have added a true richness to my daily life, but have wrought havoc with any kind of steady progress to be shared in these pages. SO, there is now a subscribe button up there on the right…it lets me off the hook a bit…I do intend to try to post regularly (but am looking forward to not feeling so guilty when I just can’t). And, it seems far more respectful of you and your time…if you are game, click on it. You will get an email anytime there is a new post. Nothing else.

ps: a footnote about the photo at the top…(edited with that new, pesky software, if you are thinking it falls short): In a bit of a hissy fit over my seemingly unending paint job, and just to get that big (guilt-inducing) maniIa envelope off the counter, I tossed out the ton of dried-up zinnia flower heads saved from last year onto the bare dirt outside my window…VERY late in the season. They should have ended up as gourmet bird food. But, a few days later…green sprouts! Then, stems, leaves, and, buds!…and they grew! Flowers…hundreds and hundreds of flowers! And, then…THEY came: the butterflies! BIG. Beautiful. All kinds! So many! Everyday! A gift…once again reminding me that not everything has to be hard.

post ps: A free afternoon yesterday…could have read a book, but instead, I played in the basement…Citra-Solv and National Geographic magazines…collage fodder!

It would be far easier for me to just “let the day go by” with no “wise words”… (Sunday, traditionally being my day to “post”). But it seems disingenuous, somehow. Even though few ever comment, I know by the graph that word.press “oh so kindly” provides me that unknown readers do take the time to check for an update more often than I have managed to do for far too long. And, I feel accountable for that, somehow.

Seven windows left to paint. Doesn’t sound earth-shaking. In the beginning, that would have been nothing…easy… after three years…not so sure. Sometime in the next few days, all will be done. But what I am not quite sure of is how one picks up the pieces at that point. Think about it. It has been three years since time in the studio has been a “given”…a way of life. Projects were always in the works…on paper, on the table, on the wall. So much has happened in the interim. (and not much of that “ART”). Most of the “work” that has gotten done has happened more in spite of the state of things, rather than because it was “work”. Art has definitely taken the back seat to “life”. This is uncharted territory. The things that used to drive any progress in the studio seem uninteresting, or just plain GONE…

There are two ways of looking at this. The easiest…simply picking up the pieces…truly, no longer seems to be an option. The harder thing will be to make new choices…can one abandon things in which so much time and energy has already been invested? Not clear. No one ever tells you that when opportunity knocks, hard choices have to be made…and, that clock is ticking…